Book contents
- An Army of Influence
- Acknowledgement of Country
- An Army of Influence
- Copyright page
- Foreword
- Contents
- Figures, maps and tables
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part 1 The concept of an army’s influence abroad
- Part 2 Lessons from past relationships
- Chapter 4 General Blamey and the Backroom Boys
- Chapter 5 ‘Not rich in standing armies or immediately available resources’
- Chapter 6 Helping the Americans help the Vietnamese?
- Chapter 7 East Timor and the crisis of 1999
- Chapter 8 Onward and onya
- Part 3 Ongoing relationships
- Index
Chapter 4 - General Blamey and the Backroom Boys
Colonel Conlon, and the Army’s adaptation and access in the Pacific and Asia, 1942–1946
from Part 2 - Lessons from past relationships
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 November 2021
- An Army of Influence
- Acknowledgement of Country
- An Army of Influence
- Copyright page
- Foreword
- Contents
- Figures, maps and tables
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part 1 The concept of an army’s influence abroad
- Part 2 Lessons from past relationships
- Chapter 4 General Blamey and the Backroom Boys
- Chapter 5 ‘Not rich in standing armies or immediately available resources’
- Chapter 6 Helping the Americans help the Vietnamese?
- Chapter 7 East Timor and the crisis of 1999
- Chapter 8 Onward and onya
- Part 3 Ongoing relationships
- Index
Summary
There exists an October 1945 photograph taken at Duntroon in Canberra of five members of the Army’s Second World War Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs (DORCA) enjoying a laugh (see Figure 4.1). It was taken at the corner of Wilton and Harrison roads, near the back of the chapel, and one can see the start of the heritage houses down Harrison Road. DORCA was a remarkable organisation, a (uniformed) policy advice bureau (of about 100 staff in 1945) led by Colonel Alfred (Alf) Conlon and working for General Sir Thomas Blamey. The photograph is an important indication of the talent in that organisation of specialists in uniform: lawyers, anthropologists, doctors, Papua New Guinea (PNG) patrol officers and writers. The photograph was taken by Lieutenant John D. Legge, the foundation professor of history at Monash University from 1960 and later the dean of its Faculty of Arts and appointed an officer of the Order of Australia.
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- An Army of InfluenceEighty Years of Regional Engagement, pp. 72 - 92Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021